1. Technical Field
Embodiments of this invention relate to an image forming apparatus, such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile machine, a multifunction peripheral composed of these devices, etc., that includes a latent image bearer to bear a latent image on a circumferential surface thereof. The embodiments of this invention also relate to a driving method for driving the image forming apparatus.
2. Related Art
In the image forming apparatus, a charger electrically charges a photoconductive drum acting as a latent image bearer that then bears a latent image thereon. Then, a developing unit develops the latent image into a toner image that is then transferred onto a recording medium in developing and transfer processes, respectively. Subsequently, a first cleaner that contacts the photoconductive drum removes toner remaining on the photoconductive drum as developer residue.
In such an image forming apparatus, paper dust or the like sometimes stuffs a gap between the cleaner and the latent image bearer, thereby causing defective cleaning and ultimately resulting in a poor or defective image.
To prevent the occurrence of a defective image, the photoconductive drum is enabled to rotate both forward and backward when the image forming apparatus is not forming images. That is, the photoconductive drum is rotated backward at the time to apply a prescribed force in a backward direction to a cleaning blade that contacts the photoconductive drum and removes the paper dust or the like filling the gap between a tip of the cleaning blade and the surface of the photoconductive drum.